1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to vehicles and specifically to an improved method for indicating simultaneous position of the steering wheels and distance traveled providing an accurate guide to the vehicle driver in the curbside parking of the vehicle.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Parallel parking involves skill and practice; it is probably the most difficult maneuver in the driving experience.
In view of this situation, there have been developed in the prior art devices to be aids to vehicle operators and provide guides for the parking of the vehicles. These other devices appear to be complicated to operate and/or may be inaccurate; also confusing to a vehicle operator when parallel parking a vehicle not so equipped. Hardy and Brink have devised various indicator devices for various vehicles which orient the position of the front wheels to the central axis of the vehicle. Biven has taken that work and improved it by adding a method to determine distance traveled. However, none of these actually inform the vehicle operator when and to what extent to turn the steering wheel and when and to what extent to move the vehicle.
The present invention remedies and overcomes all of the deficiencies and disadvantages of presently available parking guides by providing an apparatus which relays both the position of the steering wheels and simultaneously distance traveled. The vehicle operator simply observes the dashboard mounted device and manipulates the vehicle in accordance with the pre-drawn mapping.
It is a feature of the present invention to provide a position indicator device connected to the front steering wheels to mechanically indicate the position at all times of the wheels in reference to the central axis of the vehicle, this being part of a simultaneous method to assist the operator in parallel parking.
A further feature of the present invention is the provision of a position indicator for the front steering wheels along with a distance indicator device for informing the vehicle operator when to stop the vehicle, start the vehicle or turn the steering wheel.